


Feathers of Silver

by bluetoast



Series: Birds of a Feather [58]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Deaf Dean Winchester, Grief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-26 08:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1681889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetoast/pseuds/bluetoast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>July 12, 2013. Liesel can't sleep. She knows why - tomorrow is the third year anniversary of her mom's death. She also knows her dad's still awake. Rather than bother him, she heads downstairs to watch a movie and remember her mom. She just didn't expect her dad to join her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feathers of Silver

Liesel turned over in her bed and sighed. She glared at her alarm clock, the green numbers telling her it was half past eleven. She had climbed into bed when it had turned nine, exhausted from a day of swimming and running around with Georgiana. She had been certain she would fall right to sleep and wake up tomorrow with the smell of breakfast wafting into her room. Now here it was, several hours later and it was like she'd done nothing at all today. She rolled onto her back and folded her arms, wishing she could pull the covers over her head and just sleep. 

Perhaps she shouldn't have pretended to be asleep when Dad came upstairs and checked on her a little while ago. 

Sighing, she sat up and tossed the bedclothes aside. It wasn't like Dad was going to hear her moving around, and if she ever did get to sleep – he would figure she was just so tired that it wouldn't be a problem if she slept late. If she ever got to sleep.

Getting up, she crossed over to the window, peering out through the closed blinds and down into Burnt Prairie Court. The street was still, dark and quiet. The motion light over the Carmichael's drive flicked on as a raccoon scurried in front of it, before the animal disappeared into the shadows between their house and the house next door. A moment later, the light went out, and the darkness returned. It was perfectly calm. Even though it was summer and Friday night, it was still – so still, she could hear the late night traffic on Davy Crockett Boulevard several miles away. 

She knew what this was about.

Tomorrow was the thirteenth of July. 

The day Mom died. 

She pulled on her slippers, grabbed her stuffed dog from the bed and went into the hallway. Even though the light was on her in Dad's room, she didn't go down the hall. Instead, she went downstairs, accompanied by Noroc and went into the family room. After putting her stuffed animal on the couch, she went over to the DVD rack and got out _The Sound of Music._ She set the film up in the player and then went back to the couch, pulling the knitted blanket from the back around her. 

Liesel wished she knew why Mom loved this movie so much. Maybe Dad did, but he never told her. Maybe it was one of those things neither of them could understand. Noroc curled up on the couch next to her as Julie Andrews appeared on screen, and even though he couldn't hear her, Liesel kept the volume low as Maria sang about the Alps being alive. It was a pretty movie – and she did like the music and she was glad her mom named her after the eldest daughter of Captain Von Trapp, and not the main character herself.

The reason for that was there had been a gymnast her mother couldn't stand by the name of Maria, and given how cutthroat the stories Liesel had heard about life in Deva, she couldn't blame her mom one bit. 

Noroc curled up at her feet and a few minutes into the movie, Leroux appeared and joined the pair on the couch. Liesel gave the older cat a slight rub behind the ears as Maria set off for the Von Trapp home. It was in the middle of Julie Andrews marching down the tree lined drive signing 'I Have Confidence!' that movement in the house caused Liesel to jump. Standing in the doorway in a t-shirt and sweat pants was Dad. 

To her great surprise, he didn't look mad. He came over to the couch and sat down, a worn smile on his face. _“You couldn't sleep either?”_

 _“No.”_ She paused the movie, biting her bottom lip. _“I was just going to watch this until I felt sleepy... or...”  
_  
Dad gave her a one armed hug. _“It's okay, Lis. I understand.”_ He looked up at the TV for a moment and then smiled sadly. He sighed and then turned back to her. “It's not like we have to be anywhere later.” He kissed her forehead, took the remote from her and pressed play. 

*  
Liesel fell asleep right after the Von Trapp family got their curtain play-clothes and headed out to explore Salzburg. Dean always liked that part of the movie because it seemed like the sort of thing either of his mothers would have done. He was pretty sure that Mary Campbell knew how to sew – he had a vague memory of her doctoring a teddy bear for him. Elisa Coulter – well, she did pretty much everything with her hands. 

Dean worried about that sometimes. 

He knew that she avoided using a computer and a few other things, but he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't be too much longer before something like carpel tunnel or osteoarthritis started to form. For all he knew, it already had and his parents hadn't told him because they didn't want him to worry. 

He rested his head on the back of the couch, his eyes flicking once to the clock on the wall. It was nearly one in the morning. He wasn't much more tired than he was when he came down here. He closed his eyes for a moment, his mind automatically reading the words of the closed captions that he knew where scrawling on the screen. 

_Edelweiss, Edelweiss, Every morning you greet me_

He opened his eyes and sure enough, there it was. Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews signing a song he couldn't hear, but knew from the time he'd leaned on a speaker at Gallaudet University, the volume turned up to full. 

This song had been played at his and Ignacia's wedding. It was the for the seating of the mothers. Rather ironic, as the song was supposed to be about Austria and the mothers were Romanian, German-Italian-Scottish – and the bouquet of sunflowers that had been set down in honor of Mary Campbell; she had been Danish-Dutch-British and Norwegian. 

His eyes fluttered closed again, the words appearing once more. 

_Bloom and grow forever, Edelweiss, Edelweiss Bless my homeland forever._

When he next opened his eyes, Liesel was asleep, both of the cats were gone, the DVD was stuck on the title menu, and the Saturday morning sunlight was filtering through the chink in the closed curtains. Dean shifted slightly, not wanting to wake his daughter and looked at the clock – it was just after nine in the morning. Rather than close his eyes and try and go back to sleep, he slowly rose from the couch, turned off the television and went into the kitchen to cook breakfast. 

When he came into the room, he stopped short. Sitting on the island was a crystal vase full of wild flowers – lupines, Texas bluebonnets, foxgloves – and edelweiss. Dean smiled faintly and went over to the island, his fingers tracing the hardy but delicate looking blooms. He knew where they had come from and he chuckled to himself. 

Castiel did try very hard to understand human emotions and react accordingly. And really, the flowers did brighten up the kitchen.


End file.
